Review: Dragon Teeth (Michael Crichton)

There is one thing in the history of this world that is even more interesting than dinosaurs (suspend your disbelief!), and it is the charismatic people (known as palaeontologists) who go out of their way to dig up and study their bones, recreating lost worlds and vanished lives. No two palaeontologists in the history of mankind are more celebrated and infamous than Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, a pair of scientists whose eccentricities were only outweighed by their intense hatred of each other. And so began the Bone Wars, a bitter age of deception, treachery and dynamite which, despite itself, led to the discovery of many of the world’s most famous dinosaur species and is seen as one of the founding events of modern science.

Who better to tell the tale of Cope and Marsh’s Bone War than Michael Crichton, the acclaimed author of the most popular dinosaur book of all time, Jurassic Park? Dragon Teeth was published posthumously in 2017 after the late Crichton’s wife painstakingly pieced together several of the author’s manuscripts. What made it to publication is the fascinating story of the Bone Wars, told through the eyes of William Johnson, a college-aged photographer turned fossil hunter who managed to work for both Marsh and Cope during his career, and lived to tell the tale. A semi-biographical account, Dragon Teeth mixes passages from Johnson’s own journal entries with action-packed sequences used to fill in the gaps.

Unfortunately for our photogenic protagonist, Mr Johnson has a whole lot more to worry about than a pair of mentally unhinged palaeontologists. On his journey, he is forced to contend with bandits, saboteurs and all sorts of ne’er-do-wells. Then there was the small matter of the American Indian Wars being in full swing, making the American badlands a particularly dangerous place to pass through, much less go digging around in the dirt for dinosaur bones during a hotly contested gold rush! Given what Johnson had to put up with, he probably would have better fancied his chances on the run from actual living dinosaurs!

Dragon Teeth‘s style makes it somewhat different from Michael Crichton’s usual output. In an attempt to make the story as authentic as possible, direct quotes from Johnson’s journal are used as often as possible. In the early stages of the book, this can be somewhat jarring due to Johnson’s late 1800s affluent Philadelphian sensibilities, but the reader soon to adapts to the way Johnson sees and describes the world; a sort of old-fashioned gentleman’s guide to the Wild West.

The crux of Johnson’s story concerns the unearthing of the teeth of Brontosaurus, which would have been far and away the largest dinosaur ever discovered at that time (for the pedantic among us, the novel’s cover depicts the instantly recognisable skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex, but tyrannosaurs are never mentioned in the book), and Johnson’s death-defying quest to deliver them to Professor Cope. Suffice to say, when Jonhson rides into town with a large crate which he claims contains little more than some old bones, everyone assumes he is hiding gold, so every varmint and chancer within a fifteen mile radius comes gunning for him and his precious cargo.

Along the way, Johnson meets all sorts of larger than life characters, from Deadwood’s deadliest killers and a pair of moustached guns for hire who seem to have more of a penchant for theatrical acting than actual gunslinging, to the Crow tribe’s great chieftain and even a femme fatale! Who knew dinosaur diggers kept such arresting company?

Arguably more interesting than the people Johnson meets is the character journey he takes himself. Starting out as a somewhat starry-eyed yuppy with little or no common sense, we see him develop into a thick-skinned cowboy, moulded by a lifetime’s worth of adventure undertaken within a span of two years, who don’t take no guff from nobody.

Fans of old west-style action will not be disappointed with Dragon Teeth. Johnson’s voyage of discovery and redemption is littered with danger at every turn. Between lairy barroom brawls, high-speed horse back chases, circle-wagon shootouts and even a dust-up between an irate palaeontologist and the local corrupt sheriff, there is no shortage of action sequences to be had here, all of which are assembled with the panache that one would expect from a Michael Crichton novel.

Those looking to lean more about Cope and Marsh’s, frankly, insane rivalry may be somewhat disappointed to learn that the pair are mainly secondary characters in this particular tale, so only get to show us glimpses of their mad brilliance. Dragon Teeth is however, a fascinating and exciting insight into the infamous Bone Wars, told from a very different perspective to what fans of the source material may be used to.

And now, just for fun, an excerpt from one of those old Orbis Publications Dinosaurs! Discover the Giants of the Prehistoric Past comics featuring everyone’s favourite embittered palaeontologists!

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About The Author

Sean is Geek Ireland's resident dinosaur enthusiast, having been fascinated by prehistory since a time before he could read (it's not as long ago as you might think!) - he recently completed a degree in Dinosaur Paleobiology.
In his spare time, Sean writes for Geek Ireland predominantly about science fiction and monster movies. A sucker for a "so bad it's good" creature feature, he can often be found rooting through the bargain bins of DVD shops, looking for 'diamonds in the rough'.